Study by the Equity Project leads August issue of American Educational Research Journal

Study by the Equity Project leads August issue of American Educational Research Journal

Monday, August 25, 2014

The paper, “Parsing Disciplinary Disproportionality: Contributions of Infraction, Student, and School Characteristics to Out-of-School Suspension and Expulsion,” represents a significant contribution to the national conversation about exclusionary discipline. The Equity Project conducted a multilevel examination of the relative contributions of infraction, student, and school characteristics to rates of racial disparities in out-of-school suspension and expulsion. For racial disparities, the study found school-level variables, including principal perspectives on discipline, appear to be among the strongest predictors. The researchers concluded that such a pattern suggests that schools and districts looking to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in discipline would do well to focus on school- and classroom-based interventions.

The Equity Project, housed at CEEP, is a consortium of projects dedicated to providing high-quality data to educational decision makers in order to better understand and address issues regarding educational equity and bridge the gap between research and practice.

Director Russell Skiba, Ph.D., is a professor of counseling and educational psychology at Indiana University’s School of Education. He has worked with schools across the country, directed numerous federal and state research grants, and published extensively in the areas of school violence, school discipline, classroom management, and equity in education. Dr. Skiba was a member and the lead author of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Zero Tolerance. He has testified before the United States Civil Rights Commission and both Houses of Congress on issues of school discipline and school violence.

Other researchers on the study were Choong-Geun Chung, Megan Trachok, and Timberly L. Baker at Indiana University, Adam Sheya at University of Connecticut, and Robin L. Hughes at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.